And Figueroa only got this ministerial position after beating PUP's Cayo North candidate Richard Harrison.
It was an almost 2 to 1 victory for Figueroa, a sound defeat for the PUP which now relinquishes a seat it held only few months ago.
This evening, all area representatives, caretakers and standard bearers of the PUP held a meeting at party headquarters to closely examine the election and its outcome, and what failures caused the loss:
Hon. Francis Fonseca, PUP Leader
"It was a joint meeting of the national executive of the party and the parliamentary caucus and standard bearers. We received a report from the national campaign manager on the Cayo by-election and also a report from the secretary general of the party on the administrative structure of that by-election. We had a brief discussion following that, but it was a very preliminary discussion."
Daniel Ortiz
"Are you able to speak frankly with us, real talk, amongst the area reps themselves? What was the sentiment of what caused the failure of Cayo North?"
Hon. Francis Fonseca, PUP Leader
"It's always real talk. We understood that there were many factors. Obviously resources was a critical issue. I pointed this out already in my own press brief on the matter. So I think there is general consensus among the representatives, executive members, standard bearers that resources was an issue. Obviously the limited time of the campaign, organizational weaknesses that were manifested on the Election Day and obviously we were unable to bring out our people because of a very serious underlying resentment, if you like, of what had taken place. Our candidate that we had offered to them and campaign to them for two years before walked away from them and many of our supporters were deeply hurt by that."
Daniel Ortiz
"Some would say that in your last press brief, you kind of disavow Mr. Harrison. The suggestion is that he wasn't the candidate that you intended. What's the way forward in deciding who will run for Cayo North in 2017, maybe it might be earlier than that?"
Hon. Francis Fonseca, PUP Leader
"No, I didn't disavow Mr. Harrison. I thanked him, I thanked his family, I thanked his team for their work, but what I did was make it absolutely clear which are the facts that he was the party's candidate chosen for that specific by-election. He is no longer the party's standard bearer in the area. The elections are over and now the party has to engage in a quick thorough process of selecting a standard bearer for that division."
Fonseca says that steps are being immediately taken to get a standard bearer for Cayo North properly installed.
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